State Journal

Organizers of a conference that brought together public and charter
school teachers in Massachusetts last week dropped prominent testing
critic Alfie Kohn as their keynote speaker after the state education
department threatened to withhold about $18,000 in federal grant money
to help stage the event.

Jonathan Palumbo, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Department of
Education, said the agency was concerned that Mr. Kohn's remarks would
be inappropriate for a gathering organized to exchange ideas between
traditional public school teachers and their charter school
counterparts. The department has received about $1.5 million in grants
from the U.S. Department of Education over the past two years to help
facilitate discussions between the two groups of educators.

"It wasn't so much the speaker, but the content he wanted to talk
about," said Mr. Palumbo, who added that he had assumed Mr. Kohn would
be speaking about his criticisms of the Massachusetts Comprehensive
Assessment System tests, which students in the class of 2003 will have
to pass in English and mathematics in order to graduate.

"It's unsettling, but not really surprising," said Mr. Kohn, the
author of The Case Against Standardized Testing, published last
year. "It's a small step from saying, 'Pass this test or you don't
graduate' and saying, 'Renege on this speaker or you don't get
funded.'"

The MCAS has drawn fire from critics who say the exams soak up
classroom time and energy that could be put to better use. Supporters
say the tests are needed to ensure accountability.

The conference took place May 9-10 in Northampton, Mass. The
conference's coordinator, consultant Amy Leos-Urbel, declined to
comment last week.